HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: Home of Britain’s bestselling history magazine and award-winning podcast
date: 2025-11-21T16:34:29.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Why do ‘wicked’ witches wear pointed hats? The real history explained
items: Don’t fear the fairies – but do allow a little enchantment into your life
items: Scotland's season of the witch
items: Satan & the sabbath: witchhunting in the Basque Country
items: HistoryExtra Academy witchcraft quiz – week four
items: Witches in popular culture, with Professor Marion Gibson
items: 5 books about witchcraft, selected by Professor Marion Gibson
items: 5 things you (probably) didn’t know about the history of witchcraft
items: HistoryExtra Academy witchcraft quiz – week three
items: Witch trials, with Professor Marion Gibson

Why do ‘wicked’ witches wear pointed hats? The real history explained
type: item
date: 2025-11-21T15:20:39.000Z
creator: Jonny Wilkes
subject: General History
subject: Period
subject: TV interest
subject: Witches
description: There have been many examples of pointed hats in history, but it remains unclear how any of them became a must-wear for the witches
encoded: We’re off to see… the Wicked Witch of the West, as she returns to the silver screen in Wicked: For Good, the second part of the fantasy epic based on the popular stage musical. But where would Elphaba be without her trademark look, including the iconic black, pointed and wide-brimmed hat? Along with a cat, broomstick and black robes, the pointed hat is a required feature of any depiction of the typical ‘evil witch’, and has been for centuries. How it became the headgear of choice, however, remains the subject of numerous theories – as there is no single hat to point the way to the archetypal witch. The myth of the alewives Before getting to the major theories, there is one that can be debunked. The internet is well-populated with the claim that the image of the witch began with alewives, medieval women who brewed ale in their homes and sold it locally. Dominating the brewing industry for a time, these women could achieve a degree of financial independence. In an era where any woman who baulked social norms was suspicious, this autonomy would have been enough to single them out, putting them at risk of being accused of witchcraft. In addition, the fact that they stood over bubbling cauldrons while brewing and wearing pointed hats to be easily spotted at markets, it is clear why some have argued that alewives were the inspiration for the image of the witch. Except, there is just zero historical evidence to back this up. The highly symbolic history of the pointed witch hat Instead, theories have taken in pointy hats from throughout history, some with highly symbolic meaning. The Phrygian cap of antiquity, for instance, came to represent liberty and freedom in the American and French Revolutions of the 18th century, while the ancient Romans presented freed slaves with a special pointed felt cap, called a pileus. In medieval Europe, the hennin came into fashion: an extremely tall cone with flowing material hanging out of the top. Yet while it certainly has a resemblance …

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Don’t fear the fairies – but do allow a little enchantment into your life
type: item
date: 2025-05-23T15:39:28.000Z
creator: Dr David Musgrove, FSA
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Witches
description: In an age in which we are no longer mortally afraid of the supernatural, there's space to enjoy freely magic and ritual, Professor Ronald Hutton tells David Musgrove
encoded: Most of us, these days, do not believe in fairies. But maybe we should allow a little more enchantment into our lives – that is the Life Lesson from History that Professor Ronald Hutton would have us consider. In late December every year, on the winter solstice, I like to make a mini-pilgrimage to Avebury at dawn. Avebury is, of course, one of Britain’s most impressive prehistoric megalithic monuments – a huge Neolithic stone circle, surrounded by a massive bank and ditch, with two smaller stone circles inside. It’s so big, in fact, that inside the stone circle is an entire village and a pub (which are obviously substantially later in date than the megaliths). I’m not alone in heading to this huge henge for the solstice – many are drawn to it, and there is something of a carnival vibe. I get up at about 4am and generally make some of my friends get up as well (they thank me not for this). We drive for an hour in the dark and then go for a jog for a few miles from the stone circle, past the enormous and abundantly enigmatic Silbury Hill, up to the West Kennet Long Barrow, and then back along the avenue of standing stones that leads into the henge and circle. I try to plan it to arrive back in Avebury as dawn breaks, but I never get the timing right, and it’s invariably overcast anyway, so I’ve never witnessed an impressive spiritual sunrise moment. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2025/05/HEPKG2avebury-846ee37.jpg" width="5100" height="3400" alt="A large rock takes up half the image. In the background a long line of people gather together under the purple sky" title="Avebury in Wiltshire is home to Britain’s largest stone circle, which is so big that inside are an entire village and a pub (built much later) (Image by Alamy)" /> I thought about Avebury after I’d chatted to Professor Hutton, one of the leading experts on the history of belief, ritual and the supernatural. I invited him to talk about his life lessons from history and …

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Scotland's season of the witch
type: item
date: 2025-05-02T08:00:54.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Witches
description: In 16th and 17th-century Scotland, many hundreds of ‘witches’ were put to death – 10 times the proportion executed in England. Martha McGill asks what drove the killings
encoded: In November 1590, a servant named Geillis Duncan from East Lothian was interrogated by her employer, David Seton. According to Newes from Scotland, a 1591 pamphlet that included a report of the case, Geillis used to sneak out of her master’s house at night. She also “took in hand to help all such as were troubled or grieved with any kind of sickness or infirmity” and performed “many matters most miraculous”. Suspicions aroused, Seton questioned Duncan about how she worked her cures. When she gave no answer, he tortured her with thumbscrews and by “binding or wrenching her head with a cord or rope”. Still she remained silent. Finally, Seton and others searched her for a ‘devil’s mark’ – a blemish or insensitive spot created by Satan – and found one on her throat. She broke down and confessed “that all her doings were done by the wicked allurements and enticements of the devil, and that she did them by witchcraft”. Witchcraft had been criminalised in 1563, and there had been a handful of prosecutions since. But Duncan’s confession kicked off something new – Scotland’s first large-scale witch-hunt. What’s striking about this panic over supposed black magic is just how much more intense and lethal it was than witch-hunting in other European countries – perhaps most notably England. Read more | Why was King James VI and I obsessed with witch hunts? Following her interrogation (involving torture), Geillis Duncan claimed to have participated in a night-time witches’ gathering, also known as a sabbat, at North Berwick kirk. She alleged that other locals were present, and as many as 70 people were ultimately accused. Their confessions detailed bizarre and alarming practices. Supposedly they had sailed across the sea in sieves, meeting at the kirk to dance and sing. The devil had preached from the pulpit, and they had kissed his buttocks. Some of the accused also claimed to have attacked King James VI, casting spells to harm him or raising storms to sink his ships. Newes from…

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Satan & the sabbath: witchhunting in the Basque Country
type: item
date: 2024-10-30T07:00:47.000Z
creator: Ellie Cawthorne
subject: General Early Modern
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Witches
description: Jan Machielsen reveals why supernatural stories of witchcraft convulsed the Basque Country in the early 17th century
encoded: Satanic sabbaths, magic potions and demonic toads – in the early 17th century, the Basque Country was convulsed by strange accusations of supernatural activities. A new book by Jan Machielsen explores why fears of witchcraft gained such traction in this isolated region on the French-Spanish border. He tells Ellie Cawthorne more about how overexcited judges, frightened children and geographical factors all played a role in fuelling the panic. (Ad) Jan Machielsen is the author of The Basque Witch-Hunt: A Secret History (Bloomsbury Academic, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon Malcolm Gaskill discusses a little-known 17th-century witchcraft case

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HistoryExtra Academy witchcraft quiz – week four
type: item
date: 2024-05-07T11:13:28.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Quiz
subject: HistoryExtra Academy
subject: HistoryExtra Academy history of witchcraft course
subject: Witches
description: How much did you learn about witches in popular culture this week? Test your knowledge in our quiz
encoded: View Riddle on the source website Discover more learning from week four of the HistoryExtra Academy course on the history of witchcraft Video lecture: Witches in popular history, with Professor Marion Gibson – watching time 15 mins Wicca and modern witchcraft: a history – reading time 3 mins Zombies of the Caribbean: your guide to zonbi spirits – reading time 6 mins 5 books about witchcraft, selected by Professor Marion Gibson – reading time 3 mins The real magic of Harry Potter: 15 details the wizarding world borrows from history – reading time 14 mins Witches, werewolves and vampires: the Nazi's quest for the supernatural – reading time 13 mins Free download: Your essential guide to the history of witchcraft

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Witches in popular culture, with Professor Marion Gibson
type: item
date: 2024-05-07T09:19:49.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: HistoryExtra Academy
subject: HistoryExtra Academy history of witchcraft course
subject: Witches
description: In the fourth and final week of our short course on the history of witchcraft, Professor Marion Gibson explores the enduring legacy of the witch in popular culture – from books to films – and takes a brief look at witch hunts of the 21st century
encoded: View Green Video on the source website Discover more learning from week four of the HistoryExtra Academy course on the history of witchcraft Wicca and modern witchcraft: a history – reading time 3 mins Zombies of the Caribbean: your guide to zonbi spirits – reading time 6 mins 5 books about witchcraft, selected by Professor Marion Gibson – reading time 3 mins The real magic of Harry Potter: 15 details the wizarding world borrows from history – reading time 14 mins Witches, werewolves and vampires: the Nazi's quest for the supernatural – reading time 13 mins Free download: Your essential guide to the history of witchcraft

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height: 413

5 books about witchcraft, selected by Professor Marion Gibson
type: item
date: 2024-05-06T18:45:03.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Book review
subject: HistoryExtra Academy
subject: HistoryExtra Academy history of witchcraft course
subject: Witches
description: Professor Marion Gibson recommends five books about the history of witchcraft
encoded: Deadly Worlds: Witchcraft in the Bocage, by Jeanne Favret-Saada Cambridge University Press, 2010 (paperback) This book, first published in 1981, examines witchcraft beliefs and experiences in the Bocage, a rural area of western France where being bewitched is to be 'caught' in a sequence of misfortunes. The culprit, it is believed, is someone in the neighbourhood: the witch, who can cast a spell with a word, a touch or a look, and whose 'power' comes from a book of spells inherited from an ancestor. There, it is believed that only a professional magician – an 'unwitcher' – can break chains of misfortune which befall those who have been bewitched. The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft, by Professor Ronald Hutton OUP Oxford; 2nd edition, 2021 (paperback) In this updated edition, Professor Ronald Hutton presents a thoroughly revised exploration of modern pagan witchcraft, delving into the religion's essence and evolution, and tracing the historical trajectory of attitudes towards witchcraft, paganism and magic in British society from 1800 onwards. Within its pages, readers encounter a diverse array of characters, including village cunning folk, Victorian ceremonial magicians, scholars of antiquity and archaeology, leaders within woodcraft and scouting movements, Freemasons, and members of secret rural societies. Hutton also illuminates the presence of renowned literary figures – ranging from the Romantic poets to luminaries like WB Yeats, DH Lawrence, and Robert Graves – who have shaped public perceptions of pagan witchcraft since 1950. In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692, by Mary Beth Orton Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group; Reprint edition, 2003 (paperback) Award-winning historian Mary Beth Norton delivers an exhaustively researched and captivating analysis of the Salem witch trials. Set against the backdrop of 1692 Massachusetts, Norton unveils a society gripped not only by the spectre of satanic afflictions but also by t…

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5 things you (probably) didn’t know about the history of witchcraft
type: item
date: 2024-05-06T04:13:56.000Z
subject: General Early Modern
subject: Period
subject: Witches
description: Marion Gibson, the expert leading our new HistoryExtra Academy course, shares surprising facts about the wild accusations and witch trials that spread across the early modern era
encoded: Witchcraft is one of the topics covered in our series of four-week online courses, the HistoryExtra Academy, exclusive to members. The course is led by Marion Gibson, professor of Renaissance and magical literatures at the University of Exeter and author of Witchcraft: A History in 13 Trials (Simon and Schuster, 2023). Witchcraft | A short course from HistoryExtra Academy Member exclusive | In this four-week course, you’ll discover everything you need to know about the history of witchcraft, guided by historian Professor Marion Gibson Explore the course now Most witches were devout Christians Although people who identify as witches or Wiccans today follow a pagan religion, accused medieval and early modern witches were often fervent churchgoers. They lived in a European world in which Christianity saturated daily life. Many accused people explained to their interrogators that they used Christian prayers in healing spells, calling on God, the saints and the Holy Ghost. Some suspects belonged to fundamentalist Christian sects. At Salem in 1692, the convicted witches Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey were among the most pious worshippers at their Congregational church. Joan Balls, accused in Suffolk in 1645, “professed Anabaptism” and was a “runner after the new sects” of Puritanism. Christian ministers in both Suffolk and Salem were accused of witchcraft. The vicar of Brandeston, John Lowis, was deemed to be insufficiently puritanical and was charged with only reading state-approved lessons in church. He recited his own burial service before he was hanged. Quiz | Would you have been accused of witchcraft? At Salem, Reverend George Burroughs repeated the text of the Lord’s Prayer – something thought impossible for witches – when he, too, was hanged. These good Christians were accused largely because they didn’t follow the same religious teachings as those who suspected them. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2024/04/GettyImages-117343370…

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HistoryExtra Academy witchcraft quiz – week three
type: item
date: 2024-04-29T12:48:07.000Z
subject: General Early Modern
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Quiz
subject: HistoryExtra Academy
subject: HistoryExtra Academy history of witchcraft course
subject: Witches
description: How much did you learn about early modern witch trials this week? Test your knowledge in our quiz
encoded: View Riddle on the source website Discover more learning from week three of the HistoryExtra Academy history of witchcraft course HistoryExtra Academy video lecture: witch trials, with Professor Marion Gibson – watching time 20 mins Rough injustice: what really happened at a witch trial? – reading time 6 mins The war on witches – reading time 12 mins Podcast series: Salem: Investigating the witch trials – 9 episodes Witches in the dock: 10 of Britain’s most infamous witch trials – reading time 10 mins The Pendle witches: what happened in the infamous Lancashire witch trial? – reading time 9 mins Video: Malcolm Gaskill on The Ruin of All Witches – watching time 1 hour When the devil stalked Salem: the story of the Salem witch trials – reading time 11 mins

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Witch trials, with Professor Marion Gibson
type: item
date: 2024-04-29T12:04:54.000Z
subject: General Early Modern
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: HistoryExtra Academy
subject: HistoryExtra Academy history of witchcraft course
subject: Witches
description: In week three of the HistoryExtra Academy course on the history of witchcraft, Professor Marion Gibson takes a closer look at the process of trying an accused witch, and explores some of the most infamous witch trials in history: Salem, 1692
encoded: View Green Video on the source website Discover more learning from week three of the HistoryExtra Academy history of witchcraft course Rough injustice: what really happened at a witch trial? – reading time 6 mins The war on witches – reading time 12 mins Podcast series: Salem: Investigating the witch trials – 9 episodes Witches in the dock: 10 of Britain’s most infamous witch trials – reading time 10 mins The Pendle witches: what happened in the infamous Lancashire witch trial? – reading time 9 mins Video: Malcolm Gaskill on The Ruin of All Witches – watching time 1 hour When the devil stalked Salem: the story of the Salem witch trials – reading time 11 mins

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